The Reasons Why We Should Bring Meditation into Schools

“If
every eight year old in the world is taught meditation, we will
eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” –Dalai Lama

Imagine if meditation was a regular part of school life for children.
Just think how different the world would be. If every child was able to
connect to the ocean of consciousness that permeates all that is, the
desire to do wrong by others would dissolve. Meditation allows us to
discover through experience the truth of who we really are.

The problem in today’s society is that we are constantly running from
ourselves, and consequently from the truth. We’re so occupied with work
and social events that we never take the time to discover who we truly
are at the core of our being. Most of us learn to be something we are
not. We learn to fit in, to conform and to abide by social norms. We
learn how to put on a mask in front of other people. We learn how to be
slaves to our own ego. We become so good at running from ourselves that
we can’t stand the thought of ever taking off the mask we’ve become
comfortable wearing. So we betray ourselves and we let our ego roam
free. We become numb to the world and every living creature in it. We
sell our soul for an illusion of who we are, and deep down, a part of us
knows that we are on the run. Many of us have no hope of ever
reconnecting with the self as we have run too far…

What if we never started running from ourselves in the first place?
What if we learned to be at peace with ourselves from an early age? If
schools taught meditation, children would unearth their own passions,
their own interests and their own creative potential. They would not be
so bothered by their own insecurities and would learn to live for the
moment instead of always reaching for somewhere where they are not.
Meditation helped me find meaning in my own life. I would not be
following my heart and trying to change the education system if it
weren’t for meditation. It connected me to the deepest yearning of my
own soul, and aligned me with my life’s purpose. Children who practise
meditation on a regular basis would not be so prone to stress, worry and
illness. They would also develop stronger bonds with all living things
and have less of a need to compete with their peers.

I believe it is crucial for us to give children this gift of
mindfulness. It is my hope that one day the practice of meditation will
become as commonplace as cleaning one’s teeth. Many clinical studies
have proven that meditation increases the brain’s cortical thickness,
protects the body from disease, and significantly improves focus and
concentration.

Schneider, Grim & Rainforth et al. looked at 201 men and women with coronary heart disease who took part
in one of two groups: a transcendental meditation (TM) program or a
health education program. After five and a half years, the TM group
showed a 48% risk reduction for heart attack and stroke.

Another study by Pagnoni & Cekic compared gray matter in the brains of Zen meditators and non-meditators
over a long period of time. Though gray matter ordinarily reduces with
age, the gray matter of the Zen meditators did not reduce at all.

In the report, Pagnoni & Cekic stated:

The finding of a reduced rate of decline with age of both global
and regional gray matter volume in meditators may in fact indicate the
involvement of multiple mechanisms of neuroprotection.

Lazar & Kerr et al. reached a similar conclusion in a study on the impact of meditation on cortical thickness of the brain.

They found:

Regular practice of meditation is associated with increased
thickness in a subset of cortical regions related to somatosensory,
auditory, visual and interoceptive processing. Further, regular
meditation practice may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex.

Just imagine how much future generations of children would gain from
this regular practice. The benefits are truly extraordinary, as I can
attest to from my own experience. We need to do everything we can to
bring meditation into schools. If we’re going to learn to live
peacefully with one another, we must first discover that peace within
ourselves…